{"id":279322,"date":"2026-01-26T10:00:32","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T15:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ncrc.org\/?p=279322"},"modified":"2026-02-05T13:11:37","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T18:11:37","slug":"neighborhoods-have-a-say-working-in-neighborhoods-works-to-create-economic-opportunity-for-all-in-cincinnati","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ncrc.org\/neighborhoods-have-a-say-working-in-neighborhoods-works-to-create-economic-opportunity-for-all-in-cincinnati\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cNeighborhoods have a say\u201d: Working In Neighborhoods works to create economic opportunity for all in Cincinnati"},"content":{"rendered":"

Attracting new investments in lower-income neighborhoods can feel like a Sisyphean challenge for many communities. But, there is a group that seems to have found a magic formula for combining the best efforts of community leaders, elected officials and policy professionals to create lasting change.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Working in Neighborhoods (WIN) was founded in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1978 to help raise the voices of community leaders in neighborhoods that were being left out of the city\u2019s economic growth initiatives. For the last 46 years, the organization has been working hand-in-hand with community leaders to advocate for the services and amenities that the local government and private companies were not providing.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Some examples of policy campaigns WIN has conducted include advocating for traffic calming measures following a series of pedestrian deaths, calling for equitable utility usage policies and helping preserve communities by building affordable housing options.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe thing we want to see is that our neighborhoods, and our neighborhood leaders themselves, have a say in what happens in their community,\u201d WIN\u2019s Executive Director Sister Barbara Busch said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

WIN supports Cincinnati communities within the I-275 beltway through its financial literacy program. WIN also serves low-income neighborhoods such as South Cumminsville, Millville, North Fairmount, English Woods and South Fairmount through its homeownership and community-building programs. These programs fill critical gaps in the local communities where WIN works and were founded on the premise that community members should be at the forefront of their neighborhood\u2019s growth.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOur perspective is, how do we help people become sustainable for themselves?\u201d Busch said.<\/span><\/p>\n

The <\/span>homeownership program<\/span><\/a> has two components. WIN provides families with training to become homeowners, including steps for creating a monthly budget and understanding the basics of the home mortgage process.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

WIN also develops affordable housing units and sells them to families at 80% of the local Area Median Income (AMI) or below. In 2024, WIN helped 807 households achieve their housing goals and built an additional 25 units of new net-zero utility housing units.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

WIN\u2019s <\/span>financial literacy program<\/span><\/a> provides program participants with financial planning workshops on topics like identity theft, credit scores and estate planning. More than 380 people participated in WIN\u2019s financial literacy courses in 2024, including 239 people who attended their homebuyer education courses.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Community members can also receive advocacy training from WIN through its <\/span>Community Building Program<\/span><\/a>. The program teaches participants how to work with local, state and federal partners towards resolving issues that arise in the community. For instance, a group of program participants created the Beekman Street Corridor Coalition to collaborate with the Ohio Department of Transportation and the City of Cincinnati to advocate for increased traffic safety measures. Those efforts led the city to invest $11.5 million to narrow and reconfigure Beekman St. by adding a new crosswalk and other safety features to discourage speeding.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

NCRC has helped WIN achieve some of its programmatic goals by providing access to new funding streams, thereby expanding its capacity. For instance, NCRC introduced WIN to the president of PNC Bank, who later created a more accessible construction loan program for community-based organizations like WIN. NCRC also provided funding for WIN\u2019s financial literacy program.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThose opportunities \u2013 who you have in the room and the opportunity to talk to \u2013 make a big difference,\u201d Busch said. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Robert Davis is a Contributing Writer.<\/em><\/p>\n

Photo courtesy of the Working in Neighborhoods team.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Attracting new investments in lower-income neighborhoods can feel like a Sisyphean challenge for many communities. But, there is a group that seems to have found a magic formula for combining the best efforts of community leaders, elected officials and policy professionals to create lasting change.\u00a0 Working in Neighborhoods (WIN) was founded in Cincinnati, Ohio in 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Davis","author_link":"https:\/\/www.robertdaviswrites.com"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Attracting new investments in lower-income neighborhoods can feel like a Sisyphean challenge for many communities. But, there is a group that seems to have found a magic formula for combining the best efforts of community leaders, elected officials and policy professionals to create lasting change.\u00a0 Working in Neighborhoods (WIN) was founded in Cincinnati, Ohio in…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncrc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncrc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncrc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncrc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4019"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncrc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=279322"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ncrc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279322\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncrc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/279329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncrc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncrc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncrc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}